Bing - A Decision Engine We Don't Need
Bing Isn't a Search Engine
Microsoft is redefining search - it's own MSN Live Search to be precise - with a new name and multimillion dollar ad campaign. Live will soon become Bing. But Bing is a decision engine, not a search engine. In Microsoft's estimation, the world doesn't need another search engine. Further, the search engines of today are only capable of simple search.
"Where Bing really shines is in helping take the guess work out of your decisions, saving you time and money when it comes to local search, travel planning, health questions and shopping." - Microsoft
Bing is a fundamental shift away from what Google has done with search. One could argue, that Google has been extremely successful at search, and that their formula of keeping it simple has paid off billions of times over. One could further argue that no one has really tried to replicate what Google is doing - no frills page with a search box and lightning fast results that more often than not are pretty relevant. Instead, search has gotten bloated with a lot of other features and distractions - even advertisements (to which Google is even an offender).
Bing seems to be falling into this trap, which is why it really poses no significant threat to Google (or Yahoo for that matter).
Bing Isn't a New Concept
The concept behind Bing has been tried before. Have you heard of Mahalo? It is very similar in that it tries to make assumptions about what you really want to see from your search result. Mahalo though is a human moderated engine with questionable scalability. Bing appears to be automated, but at its core shares the same philosophy.
I'd argue that we don't need a decision engine. When I go to search for something, it isn't always because I want to make a purchase, or want to diagnose swine flu by reading a blog. Sometimes, I just want to know the name of the worlds largest rodent (well not really, but that was Bing's analogy).
Last night, I just wanted to find out why my iSight camera on my Mac Book wasn't working. I wasn't looking for other types of video cameras or stores. I just wanted an answer or tip.
Of course, everyone uses search in different ways. Thats exactly why Google has gotten it right - it doesn't try to make guesses about what you are looking for beyond mispelling. Looking at Bing's search engine result page makes my head spin. You've got tables, maps, graphs and all manner of links all grasping for attention. I sincerely hope those features can be turned off (or tuned down) lest their site become some big shopping catalog. If I want to go find Home Depot, and for some unfathomable reason I don't know their URL, I want my search engine to take me to their site - fast. I don't need a search engine to break down their entire site into some categorical listing on a search page.
You know what I'd like to see from a new search engine (or just from Google, Yahoo or even Bing)? Relevant search results that are also timely. In Google you can pull an advanced search, filtered by time, to get current results for pages. Why not just make that the default? Going back to my issue with the iSight camera, performing a search for "iSight camera not working" was giving me results for 2-3 years ago. Surely, drivers and programs have changed since then. Why not give me the most recent stuff first (actually, I know why this is as a search person but i'd love to see Google find a way to account for good, timely information, in their keyword ranking algorithm).
Are you excited for Bing? Do you think we need a search engine to help us make decisions?
About the Author: William Smith
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